| AEI | arbitrary evolution index; atrial emptying index |
|---|---|
| AHI | active hostility index; Animal Health Institute; apnea-plus-hypopnea index |
| BI | background interval; bacterial or bactericidal index; base-in [prism]; basilar impression; Billroth ... |
| CPI | California Personality Inventory; Cancer Potential Index; congenital palatopharyngeal incompetence; ... |
| CRI | Cardiac Risk Index; catheter-related infection; chronic renal insufficiency; chronic respiratory ins... |
| index ametropia | That resulting from alteration in the refractive index of the lens of the eye. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| index case | A person who first draws attention to their family. For example, if my eye doctor discovers i have glaucoma and subsequently other cases of glaucoma are found in my family, i am the index case. Also called the propositus (if male) or proposita (if female). (12 Dec 1998) |
| index extensor muscle | extensor indicis muscle |
| index finger | The second finger (the thumb being counted as the first). Synonym: digitus secundus, forefinger, index, second finger. (05 Mar 2000) |
| index fossils | Fossils (or groups of fossils) which are used by geologists and paleontologists to help correlate different events or processes in different parts of the world which happened at the same time. Species which make good index fossils are able to tolerate a wide range of ecological conditions, are geographically widespread, common, easy to find, and evolutionarily short-lived (that is, they speciated and then quickly became extinct). In general, they are also planktonic and very small. (09 Oct 1997) |
| index hypermetropia | Hypermetropia arising from decreased refractivity of the lens. Origin: hyper-+ G. Metron, measure, + ops, eye (05 Mar 2000) |
| index myopia | Myopia arising from increased refractivity of the lens, as in nuclear sclerosis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| index of refraction | <physics> For a given wavelength, this is the ratio of the velocity of light in vacuum (c) to the velocity of light in a refractive material (for example, glass, plasma, etc.). (09 Oct 1997) |
| invasion index | An index devised by Abercrombie & Heaysman as a means to estimate the invasiveness of cells in vitro. The index is derived from measurements on confronted explants of the cells and embryonic chick heart fibroblasts growing in tissue culture: it is the ratio of the estimated movement, had the cells not been hindered and the actual movement in the zone in which collision occurs. (18 Nov 1997) |
| iron index | An obsolete index of iron obtained by dividing the figure for the average content of iron in normal blood (42.74 mg) by the red cell count in millions; it normally varies between 8 and 9; in pernicious anaemia, the index is usually greater than 10, but it tends to be normal in chronic secondary anaemia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| obesity index | Body weight divided by body volume. (05 Mar 2000) |
| opsonic index | A value that indicates the relative content of opsonin in the blood of a person with an infectious disease, as evaluated in vitro in comparison with presumably normal blood; the opsonic index is calculated from the following equation: phagocytic index of normal serum ÷ phagocytic index of test serum = 1 ÷ x, where x represents the opsonic index. (05 Mar 2000) |
| optical index | <microscopy> A constant applied to objectives for purposes of comparison. It takes into account the focal length or magnifying power of the lens and also the numerical aperture. It was offered by Nelson and by Coles, but little use has been made of the optical index figure, probably because the equations of the two men differed and the resulting figures have been at variance. (05 Aug 1998) |
| oral hygiene index | A combination of the debris index and the dental calculus index to determine the status of oral hygiene. (12 Dec 1998) |
| orbital index | Relation of the height of the orbit to its width: (orbital height × 100)/orbital width. (05 Mar 2000) |